English Channel
the arm of sea which separates England from France, extending on the English side, from Dover to Land's End; and on the French from Calais to the island of Ushant. On the E. it communicates with the German Ocean by the Strait of Dover, 21 miles wide; and on the W. it opens into the Atlantic by an entrance about 100 miles wide. At its greatest breadth it is about 150 miles. The pilchard and mackerel fisheries are very important.
The advantages of a railway tunnel across the Channel at its narrowest part have been frequently urged; and an English company formed for the purpose of constructing a tunnel half way across from Dover to meet a similar tunnel starting from near Calais, pushed an excavation under the sea for over 2,000 yards, but was interdicted by the British government for military reasons. This tunnel would have a total length of 23 miles.